The Artist Residency Schloss Balmoral supports visual artists from all over the world and of all ages in the form of annually awarded fellowships. Since 2013, the fellowships have been linked to a specific artistic genre or theme, which the artists (among them an artist at risk) explore while in residence at Schloss Balmoral in Bad Ems. In addition, the programme offers two annual fellowships for curators and one for educators as well as the “Neustart” (New Start) fellowships awarded to graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz.
The Artist Residency Schloss Balmoral facilitates and supports Interfaces Between Artistic Work and Theoretical Discourse. The castle, where artists live and work for the duration their fellowship, is a space where exchange and interaction take place alongside artistic creation and theoretical reflection.
Since the establishment in 1995 of Schloss Balmoral as a centre for the promotion of artists, all disciplines within the visual arts have received support. Furthermore, through the organisation of exhibitions, lectures and many other events, the artist residency programme has a continuing impact on the wider community, creating and nurturing an intensive dialogue between artists, academics, art enthusiasts and beyond.
The Academy of Fine Arts Mainz at the Johannes Gutenberg University has been responsible for the centre since 2021, a role that, since its establishment, was previously held by the Rhineland-Palatinate Foundation for Culture. As a result of close collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz, artists can enjoy stimulating opportunities for interfacing through jointly curated events, lecture series and workshops which take place in both Bad Ems and Mainz. Fellowship holders are also able to attend classes which are part of the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz yearly teaching schedule.
In addition to its own residency fellowships, the Artist Residency Schloss Balmoral also oversees scholarships awarded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science, Further Education and Culture, expanding the range of fellowships on offer to include two location-independent project fellowships, two fellowships for Paris/France, one for Seoul/South Korea and one in the Rhineland-Palatinate‘s partner region of Burgundy-Franche-Comté.
Philosophie
Balmoral Castle, a magnificent villa in the Historicist style, is located in the once fashionable spa town of Bad Ems. The castle‘s stately atmosphere, far from the hustle and bustle of everyday (metropolitan) life, is perfect for the uninterrupted development and realisation of artistic ideas and projects as well as for researching materials. The castle‘s own, ever-expanding library invites its visitors to immerse themselves in both contemporary and historical documents, while the lush flora of the Lahn Valley in the immediate vicinity offers visitors ample opportunity for walking or hiking.
